Ginny Weasley, Ghost or Sheer Memory?
by ferretgirls
Summary: [OneShot] A beloved student of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry has passed on will their loved ones see them one more time before they finally move on?


**Disclaimer: **I do not own anything you may recognise in this story.

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The night was dark and the air fresh as the Gryffindor student made his way down the candle lit corridors to the Great Hall. As he stepped into the Great Hall his feelings of nervousness and confusion turned to different feeling… a feeling of amazement. The hall was decorated with streamers of black and white, the floating candles flickered brightly, the enchanted ceiling was a perfect starry night sky, the usual house tables gone and replaced with rows and rows of chairs, and within the quiet whispers around him, he could hear a slow, soft song being played, though he couldn't make out where it was coming from.

The Gryffindor student could have stood there all night, but he was pulled out this trance the moment he heard is name being said.

"Hey Harry," called out the sweet, soft voice Harry had fallen in love with.

"Hey Ginny," replied Harry as he turned around to see her standing there in a beautiful black and red strapless dress.

Harry stood there for what seemed to be ages examining her. The way her dress clung to her slim body in all the right places, the way her make-up accentuated her already picturesque face, and the way her red hair had been pulled back off of her face.

Oh that face, that beautiful face…… Harry starts to think…… It's only been a month and with each new day I am falling more and more in love with it…

But before Harry's thoughts could linger in his mind any longer, Ginny had placed her arm in his and slowly started escorting him down the aisle way to the front row of seats.

After a few minutes of sitting in silence, Harry goes to turn to Ginny to tell her how much he loves her, but to only find that she has disappeared. He begins to look around frantically to see where she has gone, only to be distracted by Dumbledore silencing the crowd and starting to speak.

"I welcome you all here today to this most tragic event. A well known and well loved student of Hogwarts has sadly passed away after being severely injured. I am to believe that this student was trying to protect someone very close to her when she was injured. Ginny Weasley, along with some other students recently found themselves defending not only their lives but our lives against the Dark Lord. Unfortunately what they didn't realise is how strong Voldemort has become since his rebirth a few years ago. Many of these students came out with serious injuries, some with mild injuries and most tragically the one I speak about this evening died……"

Harry looked around the Great Hall to find most of his fellow students were in tears. He wasn't quite sure why but then he had become conscious of what Dumbledore had been saying all along…… Ginny, his one true love was dead…… and it was all because of him…… if he hadn't of gone after Voldemort, Ginny would still be alive.

But this can't be right, Harry deliberates. She was right here a second ago sitting with me. She just left to go see someone else without me noticing…… but I can't see her now. Where did she go…?

These thoughts of Harry's go on for what seems to be hours, until Dumbledore's voice rose above all other whispers and sounds of sobbing once again.

"… Ginny Weasley will always be remembered. Her memory will not be forgotten. She would have wanted you all to remember her as a cheerful, sharp-witted student who always gave everything ago, no matter how hard they seemed. Now if no one else has anything to say, you are all welcome to come up the front to Ginny's casket and say a final good-bye to her."

And with that Dumbledore left the Great Hall via one of the back doors, so he could return to his office to have a word with the pearly-white transparent ghost of Ginny Weasley before she finally passes on to a new world.

Back in the Great Hall, Harry stood at the side of Ginny's casket, gazing at her with melancholy and devotion. He was feeling hatred for his own self to let this happen. It should have me…… I should be the one in that casket…… the one everyone is grieving, not her, not Ginny…… can't it be someone else but her… he thought as he choked back tears and tried to remember the last time he saw Ginny in that amazing black and red dress.

Harry was deeply lost in his thoughts that he didn't even hear Ron, Hermione, Fred, George or any of his other mates come up and stand with him. It wasn't until one of them mentioned that Ginny was dressed in her favourite dress and had worn it to the last school formal the school had hosted, that Harry realised that in the vision of Ginny he had saw a few hours before, she was wearing that exact dress. Ginny had in fact been dressed the same way in both the vision and now the casket.

Was this a sign that Harry had been holding out for after seeing her pass away and say her last good-bye? Was Ginny really out there still, as a ghost or a sheer memory? Would Harry get to see his love one more time? Would they speak for one last time? Harry had to know. He just had to.

Up in Headmaster's Office, the ghost form of Ginny Weasley waited for Dumbledore to return. She couldn't stand to watch everyone mourn over her dead body, or even worse let any of them see her. That would have made it even harder for her to move on and for everyone else to move on as well. As Ginny waits patiently, she looks around the office at all the little different trinkets and ornaments that Dumbledore has collected through out the years. Everything is so tranquil; the only noise is the soft breathing of Fawkes as he sleeps.

Suddenly the door to Dumbledore's office burst open and in strode the man himself. He walked straight past Ginny and to his pensieve where he immediately starts to remove the painful memories of the last few days from his mind. As Dumbledore is doing this, Ginny glides over to him and waits for him to finish. It isn't long before Dumbledore turns to Ginny and starts to speak.

"I know it must be hard for you to know that all those people down there are mourning over the loss of you. Especially as you can't even go down and say your last good-bye to any of them. No one knows that you are up here, not even your parents. I didn't think it wise to tell them that they might have one last chance to see you. But if you wish me to send a message down there to them and anyone else you want to see one last time, please tell me so I know how long I will need to keep my office door locked from any unexpected guests."

"I really do want to say good-bye to my family, Hermione and Harry the most. But I'm not sure how they will take seeing me like this. But I do suppose there is really only one way to find out isn't there?"

"Yes there is. So shall I send a message down to them?"

"Please, I would like that very much."

"Very well then, Fawkes please send these letters down to Harry, Hermione and The Weasley Family," Dumbledore finally said before turning and facing the window.

Outside in the moonlit garden, Hermione, Harry and the Weasley Family sat and talked to one another about how different things were definitely going to be from now on. They all wished that they could see her one last time. Everyone was wondering on how it would be possible when Fawkes flew down to them and dropped a letter in each of their laps before soaring off into the pitch black night.

"Wait a minute. All these letters are the same," Hermione exclaimed as she read hers, then Ron's and then Harry's. "They say that Dumbledore wants us to see him up in his office."

"Well why are we still sitting here then?" questioned Fred and George at the same time. And with that they got up and walked back inside with Harry in the lead.

When they got to the statue that hid the stair case that lead up to Dumbledore's office Harry stepped in front of it and said the password. As Harry had made this trip up to Dumbledore's office so many times it didn't come as a surprise to him when the statue moved. The rest of the group jumped before realising that they had to go up these stairs to get to Headmaster's office.

Once at the top of the stairs, Harry went to knock on the door, but instead it was as if it knew who was there and opened up on its own. After standing there for a moment the lot of them entered the room, and took a seat in each of the chairs that had been drawn up for them by Dumbledore. Once all of them were seated, the door closed and Dumbledore spoke.

"As you all are aware, our beloved Ginny has passed on. But what you haven't realised is that you are able to see her one more time before she finally chooses to move on to another world. She has been here in my office since her passing in the Hospital Wing, waiting to see you all one more time. Ginny if you please come out here."

And with those few words, the last ever real vision of Ginny anyone would ever see of her came gliding out towards where the group of them were all seated. Slowly tears from each of them began to fall once more as they all rose to say their final good-byes to her. The first of them to speak was Harry.

"Ginny, I'm so sorry; it's entirely my fault you are like this. If I hadn't of gone after Voldemort the other night you would still be here. I knew you would come after me but I still went after Voldemort. I am so sorry I did now," and with that Harry fell to the floor and broke down.

"It's not your fault Harry, not at all," Hermione spoke up. "Don't blame yourself. All of us that went after him are to be blamed in this mess; we all went after Voldemort, even if it was for different reasons."

"Hermione is right," spoke the soft voice of Ginny. "You needn't blame yourself. If anything, I did right in coming after you and the others. You wouldn't be here if I wasn't there to distract that Death Eater so we could get out of there. And that's what Voldemort wants, is you dead, not me. He doesn't care about how many innocent people get killed as long as you die. But none of us are going to let that happen."

"And right she is," Fred and George piped up through sobs.

"Now if all of you have nothing else to say to me, I need to get going. Mum, Dad, Fred, George, Ron, Charlie, Bill, Percy, Hermione, Harry, I love you all. Please don't forget me. I'll be watching over all of you, trying to protect each and every one of you. Oh and Harry I'll say hi to your mum and dad for you and to Sirius and Cedric for all of you."

"Ginny dear, we love you. We'll never forget you," Mrs Weasley choked out, and with that the pearly-white transparent ghost of Ginny Weasley faded until there was nothing left.


End file.
